When The War Raged and Other Poems
by Sable Supernova
Summary: Poem collection about Harry Potter. Various characters and settings. 1: When the war raged, what was it like? What does it feel like to live in fear?
1. When The War Raged

So, I hate posting poems on here because the formatting sucks, but here is one I am proud of :) Please let me know your thoughts!

(Words: 243)

* * *

 **When The War Raged**

When the war raged outside of our doors,

Every stranger on the street was an enemy.

It was better to assume the worst

Than wait for the truth to shine through.

-o0o-

When the news arrived in the mornings,

We didn't read it, we skimmed

Through the articles, the obituaries,

Hoping not to see a name we knew.

-o0o-

When the frames of our windows shook,

We locked them tight, and stayed indoors.

The world outside was a frightening place,

Better if we didn't know.

-o0o-

When we went to bed at night,

We didn't sleep.

We drifted through dreams and nightmares,

Lying awake with our ears and eyes piqued.

-o0o-

Every sound from the street was a curse,

Every laugh was a cry.

Every promise of love was a death threat.

Better to assume the worst.

-o0o-

Fear traced our every outline,

Fear thought carefully about every word.

When the war raged outside of our doors,

Fear controlled us and kept us subdued.

-o0o-

Every stranger on the street was an enemy,

Every friend and associate, too.

They have ways and the will to break you,

We didn't know who was left true.

-o0o-

For when war comes, it's better

To stay to yourself and your own

Than wait for the truth to shine through

When you're outwitted, out-numbered, alone.

-o0o-

But a man can't defend an empire,

And a man can't stop evil alone.

You stay to yourself and you'll soon find,

No one there when they finally come.


	2. A Thing

**Written for Lamia's Daily Prompt Competition, for: A golden nightgown**

 _And yes, this is a thing of some sort, hence the name. But the name is also metaphorical. Also, I'm not telling who the character is - I want to know what my readers think ;) Let me know below! 10 points if you're right._

 _It's also known as the poem that wouldn't end, because I tried to end it three times before it came to its natural conclusion._

* * *

 **A Thing**

The apple in the iris of an eye,

The gleaming trophy on a shelf up high.

A legacy of Grecian myth

Rests on shoulders already laden with

-o0o-

Promises made by a doting mother

And a father's expectations of honour.

A reflection of a girl, a woman grown -

The details fade and hollow when seen up close.

-o0o-

She wears a golden nightgown in her dreams,

Lackadaisically looking on the gleam

Of sunlight on the water's skin

When she wakes, all she sees is him.

-o0o-

Her love, her hate

Her pride and shame,

Her bedfellow and one true mate,

For which she knows not whom to blame.

-o0o-

Her darling son is now her only joy;

She rests her life on the shoulders of a boy.

Half his father's son, he wears his pride:

While the other half begins to question lies.

-o0o-

She has always been another thing:

A golden nightgown dream hidden from sin:

A trophy remembers the sacrifice of the win.


	3. Lily's Grief

**Lily's Grief**

 **1.**

The first time she met with grief  
Was on a lonely London Street.  
Around the corner from King's Cross  
An eleven year old met with loss.

Sister. Confidante. Friend.  
The words stuck like ash in her throat  
From the fire that had burned strong  
Snuffed out.  
There was nothing left, all was gone in half an hour.  
Blood meant nothing.

 _Maybe she'd get over it._  
(Maybe hell would freeze over)  
 _Maybe she didn't need her anyway._

 **2.**

The second time grief visited her  
It was due to a single word.  
(He was a kid, he still had to learn)  
She wished that she hadn't heard.

(He didn't mean it he didn't mean it)  
 _oh Merlin he meant it_  
But she knew she knew he was better than that  
(She knew it in the part of her  
that would eternally be a girl on a swing)

 _But he'd said it he'd still said it and that was enough_  
He'd chosen his path  
And it was one that continued without her.

 **3.**

Marlene was ice  
The compliment to her fire  
Cold and beautiful  
Tall and blonde  
Dead

 _Oh please not Marlene not Marlene_  
(She knows it's too late)  
Blood meant nothing to them  
It meant everything to everyone else

She remembered the jokes she'd made  
About the ice in her tongue  
When she spat back a retort  
Now she was dead  
Now it was true.

 **4.**

Mary was next  
Mary who smiled and laughed  
And never cried until  
That night.

Lily wasn't there to see it  
(It was written in the anguish on her face)

Five Gryffindor girls  
Two dead  
Not yet twenty.

Grief became life  
(The tears came at two in the morning  
And were silent)  
 _A plea a beg a lament an epitaph_

She rolled off the names before she went to bed  
(It became a lullaby)  
She would not forget she would never forget  
When this was over  
(Merlin, please, when will this be over?)  
she would remember them still

The fallen friends  
Turned soldiers by circumstance  
Fighters by courage  
Men and women  
 _Lovers and friends and brothers and mothers_  
 _And people God dammit they were people_

Casualties of war  
Collateral damage  
(She hated those terms  
It turned them into nothing more than names)  
Names are nothing  
They are not alive  
They have no hopes or dreams  
Or sadness or anything  
They are the dead  
The lives not lived  
They were loved.

She rolled off the names before she went to bed  
(It became a lullaby)

Gideon. Fabian.  
 _The terrible twosome Weasley twins First to the battle Last to leave_  
Caradoc.  
 _Charmer with attitude Desperately romantic Friend_  
Benjy.  
 _Ever the optimist on the surface Scared shitless beneath_  
Dorcas.  
 _Lavender perfume and purple coats Gentle Warm Comrade in arms and in sentiment_  
Edgar.  
 _Intelligence to match Dumbledore's Strategist Planner He kept everyone safe_  
(Who would keep them safe now?)  
Mary.  
 _Frizzy hair and a smile A laugh that set the whole room off A girl terrified of death A woman who faced it_  
Marlene.  
 _The bread to her butter The ice to her fire The wry smile and pessimism The wild warrior_

Dead.  
(She decides she hates the word dead  
It sounds too final  
She thinks it should have a vowel at the end  
She doesn't tell anyone)

 **5.**

The last time she knows death  
She knows it for two minutes  
And seventeen seconds  
 _too long a lifetime it should have been her_  
(She would have died for him if she could have)  
 _The boy the boy oh please not the boy_  
The grief lasted for two minutes  
And seventeen seconds

She never knew if the boy lived too  
Her last thought was for him  
 _I hope I've done enough_

She never knew it was more than enough  
She'd done more than enough always more than enough  
She gave the world a chance  
(Just one chance but one chance was enough)

The dead  
The weight of a war  
Love and hope and dreams never realised  
It all lived on in him.

* * *

 **Please leave me a review if you read this!**


	4. Sixty-Four

AN: So this ended up being written really quickly after reading a tumblr post on the subject. It got my brain cells working and this came out. I hope you like it :)

* * *

 **Sixty-Four**

 _Will you still feed me, will you still need me, when I'm sixty-four?_  
Those were the words you belted out,  
at the top of your lungs,  
from the roof of the multi-story car park.  
Your voice strained at the effort.  
You were stood on the railings,  
One wrong move away from certain death,  
Looking at Lily.  
Your eyes didn't leave her face for a second.  
She rolled her eyes, looked away with a faint blush,  
Told you to "get down from there!", but she was smiling.  
I can't remember what brought us to the car park,  
But there we were, laughing, dancing, shouting,  
Stumbling, fumbling.

Marlene dropped the bottle, but we didn't care:  
We were already drunk.  
Mary curled up in the back of someone's pick up,  
Claiming she was just resting her eyes.  
I lit up while leaning over the railings  
And dropped my cigarette.  
I watched it fall until my eyes lost track of it.

 _What will life be like when we're sixty-four?_  
Of course, it was Remus who asked.  
We talked of family gatherings  
Too big to fit in a single house,  
Because we were all family,  
We were _brothers_.  
We talked of our children,  
Of our children's children.  
Who would be the bad influence,  
Who would be the better dad.  
There was a war going on,  
But it didn't faze us.  
Never for a second did we think we'd never reach sixty-four.  
We were going to reach sixty-four.

 _Twenty-One_  
You were twenty-one.  
 _I saw the destruction from down the street  
and my heart dropped like a deadweight  
it dropped it dropped and didn't stop  
_We talked about our futures like we had a clue  
 _I saw you on the stairs and I couldn't see anymore  
all was a blur in the tears that I couldn't control  
_We were so sure we were going to live forever  
 _In the nursery I saw her the defiant gleam still in her eyes  
Lily who was going to be yours forever  
Lily who'd chosen you  
Lily  
_The war was just a phase, it would be over and we'd have our real lives left to lead  
 _He was crying in the crib, not a scratch on him but a solitary scar  
A baby crying in the destruction  
The boy you'd both died to save  
Just a boy  
_There's no justice left in the world, James.  
There's only actions and reactions, and sometimes they don't make sense.  
 _I cradled him in my arms as my knees buckled and James  
I don't think I can do this I'm not strong enough  
I need you I've always needed you and you were twenty-one for God's sake  
twenty-one and that's it that's just it there's nothing left anymore  
_I was lost. I was broken. I was shattered all over again.

If I don't make it to sixty-four, James, I'm sorry,  
But if I do  
I'll still love you.


End file.
